Basket of Stars
by Owls Down The Rabbit Hole
Summary: A new girl comes to Tohru's school, she is very shy and a bit distrustful at first but Tohru, Yuki and Kyo bring her home for supper and find her secret to be very interesting. Probably a bit OOC
1. Do they know my secret? Ch1

Chiyo stepped through the hallway cautiously. They were all empty, as class had already started, but she felt awkward there nonetheless. She had come from a school much smaller than the one she was walking through now, it was much more intimidating to know there was more people. So many strangers all against her.

She finally found the right room and knocked lightly on the wood. Too lightly, she thought and went to knock again, but the door slid open. Chiyo looked around the adult standing in her way. She could see over twenty pairs of eyes staring at her, watching her distrustfully and menacingly.

"You must be the new student!" The man in front of her said and beckoned her to step inside, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is Miss Chiyo Tomori. Please welcome her into our school." He said to the class and told her to take the only seat left, which was at the very back beside the window. She felt each and every eye in the room watching her as she walked to her new seat. Chiyo watched everything that went on outside the window beside her, which wasn't much. Every once in a while she would see some one turn and look at her through the corner of her eye. She felt terrified every time, but she did her best to ignore them.

Break time finally came and she slipped her little lunch box out and began eating. She somewhat crouched over her desk and flinched slightly at each person to walk by her. Eventually, a boy came up to her and greeted her with a smile. She looked up at him slowly.

"Hello! I'm Yuki Soma. I just wanted to welcome you to our class." He said in a quiet voice. Chiyo knew there had to be something else to the greeting.

"Uh … Thank you." She said politely and went back to eating. But not a second later, another student came and stood beside him. This one was a girl. She saw Yuki was trying to say hello to the Chiyo. So she turned and greeted Chiyo as well.

"I'm Tohru Honda. I hope you like it here!"

"Um … Hello … Tohru." Chiyo said to the girl, and after she didn't look away or ignore them. She looked between both of them, trying to figure out if they actually were plotting against her or if this was the kindness some people had, like her grandmother had told her.

"I was actually wondering earlier if you'd like to come to our house for supper." Tohru asked shyly and Yuki's face lit up slightly.

"That would be wonderful! Miss Honda is a great cook."

"I don't know ..." Chiyo muttered.

"Do your parents not like you going to stranger's houses?" Tohru wondered, thinking she had made Chiyo feel bad by being inconsiderate.

"No … I just … don't want to be a bother..."

"Don't worry, it's no problem for me! And I wouldn't Yuki or his family would mind either, right?"

"Of course not. I think my cousin would actually like the new company."

"Um... I guess I'll come then." Chiyo said, but she really didn't want to, she knew they would do something, something to hurt her in any way they could.

"Great! Then we'll see you when class is over." Tohru said and returned to her friends.

Tohru sat in the seat next to Arisa, happy with herself. "That girl is really shy." Arisa said as she looked at Tohru's new friend.

"Yes," Saki said, "And I'm sensing odd electrical waves coming from her."

"What do you mean by 'odd'?" Tohru asked her friend, puzzled.

"They're similar to Yuki and Kyo's electrical waves, but still quite different."

_I wonder if she's some how related to Yuki and Kyo, _Tohru thought, _Maybe that was why Yuki was the first one to talk to her._

Chiyo walked quietly beside Yuki, Tohru and Yuki's cousin, Kyo, who was also in their class. The boys kept arguing with each other once every few minutes, it almost became violent a few times. Chiyo also noticed that they kept calling each other "stupid cat" and "damn rat" which she thought was a bit odd, unless it was just her.

They reached a house surrounded by trees after some time. Tohru opened the door for Chiyo and they all took their shoes off when they stepped inside.

"Shigure! We're home!" Tohru said as she stepped into the house a little further. A man appeared from around the corner.

"Oooh, I was starting to feel lonely, wondering when you'd be coming home." The man said, a bit dramatically, Chiyo thought.

"Maybe the same time we always come back at! And don't you write while we're gone?" Kyo yelled.

The man ignored him and spotted Chiyo. He shuffled over to her with a creepy grin, "And who is this?"

"Oh, I almost forgot! Shigure, this is Chiyo. She's a new classmate of ours. And Chiyo, this is Shigure." Tohru explained.

"A new classmate? Let me guess, Tohru wanted to have you for supper to make you feel welcome, right?" Shigure chuckled. Chiyo nodded. "If you want to, you can call your parents and we'll all have dinner together!" He cheered, he was too enthusiastic for Chiyo.

"My parents are dead." Chiyo said and everyone turned to look at her awkwardly.

"Oh, uhm … I'm sorry if I offended you at all."

"No, it's alright. There's no way you could have known."

Tohru placed each of the bowls and plates carefully on the table then called for Yuki, Kyo and Shigure. She had talked about a lot of different things to Chiyo as she made their food. Chiyo didn't mind, just like she said whenever Tohru asked if she was boring her, but she was curious to know how they were all so cheery and enthusiastic. Yuki and Shigure joined them, but Kyo didn't appear. Shigure said not to worry about him, he would probably join them soon.

"So who do you live with? Why did you move here?" Shigure asked, he seemed to be a very nosy type of person.

_Stop thinking about everything negatively, not every one has a life like you, but that doesn't mean the world is horrible and no one will understand you. Just open up a little, be nice, that's how people make friends, _Chiyo thought, _That's what Grandmother always told me..._

"I live by myself. I've lived with my grandmother since I was little, she became sick a year or two ago and she died last month. She left me all her savings and any profits from her books." Chiyo sat up a little straighter, showing her face and took a large bite of her food, "This is really good Tohru."

"Your grandmother was a writer? I am a novelist as well!"

"Really? Grandmother loved to write about the zodiacs, and I loved all her work, especially all the stories she made just for me." Chiyo smiled to herself, thinking of the memories she still had of her grandmother, but she _did _notice them all look at her oddly when she said "zodiacs."

"Is your grandmother Orino Tomori?" Shigure asked excitedly.

"Yes, why?"

"She was such an inspiration when I was a teenager! I loved her work! No, I _still _love her work! I always felt like I related to her characters a lot."

"Did she write about the Chinese zodiac?" Tohru wondered. They were quite obsessed with zodiacs as well. Did they know her secret?

"She did write a bit about them, but her favourite to write about was always the astrological zodiacs, especially taurus and scorpio."

"Oh, I'm not very familiar with those …"

"Well, there's twelve different constellations and when the sun is in line with them or something like that, it's their time of the year. Like, I'm a scorpio, which is between October twenty-forth and November twenty-second. Then there's also Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Virgo, Aquarius, Cancer, and Pisces. Each one has different personality traits, which people who are born in their time usually posses. They are all also represented by different animals and people and things. They each also have a different element planet and such representing them, but the animals are the ones most people remember the best."

"Wow, you're quite the expert."

"My grandmother was an expert, not me." Chiyo smiled at the compliment, "Um … do you mind if I use your bathroom?"

"Of course not! It's just down the hall that way." Shigure pointed out, Chiyo nodded and stood up. She walked around the table, towards the hall, but she didn't know Kyo was walking towards her in the hall at a very fast pace. He wasn't watching where he was going and ran straight into her. She toppled over from the impact. Yuki, being the closest , jumped from his seat and caught Choyi right before she hit the ground. Chiyo opened her eyes, she looked right up at Yuki.

"Are you alright?" He asked, genuinely worried. Chiyo realized he had his arms around her enough that it should have transformed her. She squealed and rolled well away from him before sitting up. She looked down at herself.

"Oh, good, I didn't transform." She said to herself. But everyone heard her loud and clear.

"Whaddya mean by transform!" Kyo shouted.

"Oh! Are you a member of the zodiac as well? I thought so!" Tohru squeed.

"She's not a member of the zodiac! I've never even met her before! Have either of you?"

"No, I've never seen her before today."

"Me neither."

"I'm confused now..."

"Well, come on! Explain!"

Chiyo looked at each of them, feeling more and more scared and insecure. She jumped up and ran to the bathroom, kicking herself all the way for giving herself away.

When she returned, they were all sitting, waiting for her. Kyo was obviously trying very hard to not burst out. Chiyo took a seat once again.

"Care to explain yourself?" Shigure said.

"Like I said, I'm a scorpio." Chiyo put a little bit of her meal inside her mouth, not really wanting to eat, "If a member of the opposite sex hugs someone in the Tomori family, that person transforms into their zodiac." Chiyo said as if reading from a text book. "I'll turn into a scorpion if a boy outside my family hugs me. My grandmother would turn into a bull." Chiyo took another bite and recalled what Tohru had said when she fell, "Wait. What did you mean 'are you a member of the zodiac as well?'"

"Heh, well I guess it doesn't matter if we tell you. We're all in the same boat." Shigure chuckled.

"What do you mean?"

"Our family is like yours, but we turn into the Chinese zodiac animals. I'm the rat, Shigure is the dog and he is our stupid little cat." Yuki explained, "I had no idea there was another family out there like us. Did you?" He asked Shigure.

"No, but I admit when I first read your grandmother's books, I became a bit suspicious. But what about the libra and such? What would they transform into?"

"Oh … well, Saggitarius turns into an arrow and flies away, he's actually injured some one. Libra actually turns into a scale and aquarius becomes a woven basket of water. Those three are the worst to be and go to same sex schools. My twin cousins, the geminis, when some hugs just one of them they kind of like .. trade faces and bodies, but they're still themselves, if that makes sense, but they usually can convince people it's a trick they learned that only twins can do. And then virgo, so far she just stays the same, she's lucky like that. But grandmother told me that when she's older and she is hugged, she'll appear as her younger self."

"That's interesting to know." Shigure smiled.

"I still can't believe there's another family like us." Yuki muttered.

"Yes, and what's more, it seems as if we're in the same family. We won't transform each other."

"Wow! I'm starting to feel a bit left out! I'm the only one here not a member of some kind of zodiac!" Tohru giggled.

"You shouldn't be. It's not as great as you think." Kyo grumbled.

"You're just mad that you're stuck as a stupid cat for the rest of your life." Yuki teased.

"I don't think he's a stupid cat." Chiyo said. Kyo heard what she said and stopped himself from what he was going to say. Yuki lowered his head a bit, not in shame, but in acknowledgment that she was right.

"Right. That was rude of me." He said glumly.

"Are you really apologizing to Kyo?" Shigure asked.

"I never said that."

The three boys kept bickering throughout dinner. Chiyo and Tohru laughed at them and talked between themselves until it began to get dark and Chiyo insisted she had to leave before it got too dark.

"Would you like Yuki or Kyou to walk you home, it is quite dark already." Shigure offered.

"No, it's alright. I actually live fairly close to here. So it's no problem." She assured them.

"Well … at least take this," Kyo stepped forward and handed her a flashlight, "We wouldn't want you to get lost." He avoided everyone's eyes, especially hers, and blushed a little.

"Uh … Thank you, Kyo." She took the light from his hand.

Chiyo turned and left through their front door.

"Well, we certainly had an interesting evening." Shigure sighed.

"Yes, I think everyone will find this very interesting." Yuki nodded.

"Especially Kyo's reaction." Shigure teased the figure slowly making it's way up the stairs, trying very hard once again not to lose his temper.

"I don't think _everyone _will find it interesting."

"Yes, Akito won't be very happy at all," Shigure said as he, Yuki and Tohru watched Chiyo's shadow leave their vision, "But he doesn't have to know just yet."


	2. Why so scared? Ch2

"You're a zodiac, too! That's so awesome! And you can hug me and I won't turn into a bunny! Hug me! Hug me!" Momiji yelled excitedly and ran into Chiyo's arms. She was still getting used to this family. Everyone in it that she had met so far were all so different. Momiji was so loud and excited all the time, but Yuki was quite and reserved. Then Kyo was irritated easily but sometimes that just made him funny, especially when he fought with Yuki. Shigure was also really funny, but he didn't really become as active as Yuki and Kyo did at times. Haru, he was like Yuki but could become worse than Kyo in less than a second.

Tohru laughed a little when Momiji ran into Chiyo when she wasn't expecting it. She stumbled but smiled and hugged him. "So you're the rabbit of the zodiac?" Chiyo asked him politely.

"Mhm," Momiji nodded, "But that's not as cool as being a scorpion! I've never met anyone in your family. I don't think papa has either!"

"I don't think it's that great. I could be squished easily, especially if someone saw me and tried to kill me before I stung anyone. And I don't want to hurt any one, but I might have to if they ever try that." Chiyo said.

"Hmm that's true. I wouldn't want you to get squished!"

"Come on, Chiyo! We're going to be late for class. You should be going, too, Momiji." Tohru interrupted.

"Aaaaawe! Alright … Byyyye! I'll see you later!" Momiji turned and trotted away. Chiyo and Tohru went the opposite way to get to their classroom.

After school, Tohru had to go to work, so Chiyo was left to return to Shigure's house alone. She went there every night since she didn't have anyone waiting for her at home, and they were all always so nice to her and always seemed happy to have her there. Unless they were trying to gain her trust so they could kill her easier. _No, that's not true. If someone wanted me dead, I would be a pretty easy target, _Chiyo thought. Surprisingly, that gave her a lot more confidence, even though she was saying anyone could take her down easily.

Chiyo stepped into the house without knocking. After a week of knocking on the door every time, Shigure had told her that she didn't need to knock, it was practically her second home. She found Kyo in the kitchen looking around cluelessly, "Ugh, I'm starving!"

"Then make something!" Shigure yelled from the next room.

"I can start dinner. Then we can also give Tohru a break." Chiyo suggested.

"That would be great. Can you cook well?" Shigure asked.

"I had to cook every day when my grandmother was sick. I got a lot of practice."

"I don't care if she can cook or not! I need food!" Kyo whined. Chiyo pulled out a bowl and utensils as she decided what to make.

"That's not true! If she burnt it to a crisp you would whine all night." Shigure said. Kyo watched him angrily as he walked by the door innocently. He almost started shouting at Shigure, but he reminded himself that Chiyo was there. Kyo had noticed, and he figured Yuki and Shigure noticed as well, that he had been controlling himself better since he had met Chiyo, so he had her to thank, although, he didn't know why he was acting that way. He stood beside her, she looked up at him, wondering what he was about to say or do.

"Can I help you?" Kyo asked her.

Chiyo took a moment to register what he said, but smiled slightly and told him what to do.

Yuki, Tohru and Shigure sat around the little table, waiting for their food to come. Kyo helped Chiyo take the food out to the table and sat down across from Tohru. Chiyo sat at the end and placed the bowl she was carrying in front of her plate.

"This looks delicious, Chiyo!" Tohru looked around the table, excited to try Chiyo's food.

"Well, I can't take all the credit, Kyo helped, too." Chiyo smiled at him. He smiled back faintly, feeling a bit awkward as Shigure lifted an eyebrow at him. Neither of them said anything and piled some of the food onto their plates.

After they all finished dinner, Tohru helped Chiyo wash all the dishes. Yuki left to finish a bit of homework and Shigure went to write some more of his novel. Kyo disappeared and when they were finished Chiyo asked Tohru where he might have gone.

"He's probably on the roof. I think it's because he's used to being up high." Tohru said.

"What do you mean?"

"He spent some time up in the mountains, training, before he came to live here not too long ago. Shigure told me he meditated under waterfalls and fought bears while he was up there," Tohru explained, "I have to do my home work as well. Are you finished? We could together if not!"

"Sorry, I'm already done." That was a lie.

"Oh, then I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Tohru said glumly and went to the stairs. Chiyo grabbed her bag and slipped on her shoes. She went outside, the sky was turning orange and a cool breeze rustled the trees. She spotted a ladder at the side of the house and skipped over to it. She left her bag at the bottom and climbed up to find Kyo.

He didn't see her at first, so she hopped up onto the shingles and walked over to sit beside him. He sat up, alarmed, but didn't say anything. Neither of them spoke a word for a few minutes, they just watched the sun set.

"It's really pretty up here." Chiyo said, she didn't look at Kyo for a response, she kept watching the scenery, as if waiting for something exciting to happen.

"Yeah … It is."

"Tohru told me you stayed up in the mountains for a while."

"Yeah, I did, what of it?"

"I just think it's cool. I couldn't fight for my life. But you were up there, fighting bears every day." Chiyo pictured him doing so in her head.

"I did NOT fight bears!" Kyo yelled, Chiyo flinched away and hid her face. He noticed he had done what he didn't want to do to her, and curled up shyly, like Chiyo, "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell. Just don't believe everything Shigure says."

Chiyo didn't answered for a moment, but sat up straight, "It wasn't Shigure that told me. But Tohru did say it was him that told her ..."

"Exactly. He just likes to make things up."

"Well, he _is _a novelist. He needs to have some kind of imagination."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

They had another few moments of silence before Kyo asked; "Why do you always do that?"

"Do what?"

"You act like you're scared of everything. And you're so shy, it's like you think some one is gonna hurt you just for talking."

"Well … That's because I am. I _am_ scared of pretty much everything. And I _do_ think a lot of people want to hurt me. I know _you_ won't but sometimes you just make me jump."

"Why?"

"I don't know …" Chiyo lied, but decided she didn't want to lie to Kyo, "You know my parents died when I was a kid, right? Well … I was five years old. It was a saturday and I didn't want to go to bed, so I was hiding from my mother. I hid in their closet, but I kept the door open just a little, so that is wasn't too dark. Mom came in, she didn't know where I was, but before she could find me, some one came into the room. Now that I think about it, I think he had been hiding in a closet in the hall, waiting for the right opportunity. Mom screamed and he stabbed her in her stomach a bunch of times. Dad came in and the guy stabbed him, too. Then he left," Chiyo had tears pouring down her cheeks by then, and Kyo watched her with wide eyes, he had no idea she had ever gone through something so horrible, "I was crying so hard, I couldn't move to help them. I could only watch them die. I mean, I was only five years old anyway. I wouldn't have known what to do. Before mom died, she spotted me peeking out of the closet and said goodnight to me. I remember all of it as if it happened yesterday. And I see it every night in my head before I go to sleep. I just keep reliving it, and I keep thinking that some one will hurt me, just like that man hurt my parents." Chiyo finally finished her story and started crying and sniffling like she had the night her parents died, but this time, she had Kyo right beside her, so she crawled over to him and clung to his torso. Kyo looked down at her, surprised, he didn't know what to do. He couldn't tell her to stop crying.

Kyo reached over, he picked her up and set her on his lap. He kept his arms around her, hugging her. Chiyo stopped crying little by little and realized what he had done, then slipped her arms around him as well.

After a while, Chiyo calmed down and they were sitting side by side once again, "Wow, it's gotten pretty dark, I should be heading home..." Chiyo said and stood up, she went to the ladder and looked down at the ground, but quickly looked away and clung to the shingles, "Uhmm … We're really high up."

"Did ya just notice?"

"I know we're on a roof but that's looks like a really long way down."

"You're not afraid of heights, are ya?" Kyo asked, Chiyo nodded at him and he groaned, not that he was surprised. He walked over to and got down on his knees, "Come on, get on my back and I'll carry you down."

"Are you sure?" Chiyo asked, she just hoped he didn't change his mind as she continued to hold onto the shingles for her life.

"Yeah, if I don't you'll probably stay up here until you die."

"Alright." Chiyo carefully let go of the roof and hopped onto his back.

"Now close your eyes and we'll be down in a minute." He moved around to get onto the ladder and climbed down, "You can get off now." Chiyo opened one eye and saw that they were safely on the ground again.

"Oh … Thank you, Kyo." Chiyo said jumped down. She grabbed her bag and began to walk away from the house, "Bye, Kyo."

"Wait," Kyo said and grabbed her wrist, but then got a little self-conscious, "It's pretty dark, maybe I should walk you home."

"You don't have to, Kyo..." Chiyo said shyly.

"No … I want to ..."

"Uhmm alright …" Chiyo said and turned to begin walking. Kyo started walking beside her, they didn't say anything as they got closer and closer to Chiyo's home. Chiyo turned her head a few times to see that Kyo really was walking with her, with a red face. She wanted to laugh, but she didn't, she didn't know if he would get mad at her for that. She _did _ feel her face get really warm, though.

They climbed the stairs to her apartment and Chiyo pulled out her key from her bag to unlock the door. It opened and she turned to Kyo, "You can come in for a minute. I'd actually like to show you my wall." Chiyo said. Kyo agreed to then followed her inside. He saw a small kitchen through a doorway right beside the front door. Chiyo led him past that bit of drywall and into her living room. There was only a table, a cushion and a set of shelves in there, but the walls made it feel like it was the exact opposite of empty.

It looked like Chiyo had taken a pack of markers to the walls and drew all the members of the astrological zodiac in a big mural. The wall opposite it had a mural similar to it, but with a scorpion, a dog, a rat, a rabbit, a cow and a cat.

"Did you really draw these?" Kyo stuttered.

Chiyo nodded, "I use washable marker so if I want to I can change or erase something to draw something else. I wanted to add Tohru, but I didn't know what animal to use for her."

"You could draw her as a rice ball. She seems to talk about those a lot." He chuckled, "But really, these are really good. How come I've never seen you draw?" Kyo was really amazed by her talent.

"Well, I haven't drawn much since grandmother died. I always drew pictures for her. She loved it when I drew scenes from her stories. She always said I should be a manga artist."

"If you can draw manga like you can draw these, you'd be really rich."

"I don't know about _that_..." Chiyo said modestly.

"No, I'm serious. When you have a talent you should use it."

"What if it's a talent you don't want?"

"Are you saying you don't like drawing?"

"I never said that. If I didn't like drawing, I wouldn't have a bunch of animals all over my walls. It's just that my mom was a really good artist as well. Grandmother showed me some of the sketches she kept, but apparently my mother didn't like art. She didn't like being still for too long. She played sports a lot in highschool."

"Which of your parents are part of the zodiac?" Kyo said without thinking.

"My mother. She was Saggitarius." Kyo didn't say anything after she answered him, so she took the opportunity to thank him, "Thank you for walking me home. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow is a saturday."

"Oh, right … Um .. well I only have a few chores to do, so I'll probably see you in the afternoon."

"Fine, goodnight." Kyo said and left her alone in her apartment. She closed the door behind him, then pulled her markers from off the shelf to draw Tohru onto her mural.

Kyo walked back home alone, it was late when he returned, but Shigure was still up and ready to tease him.

"Aaaawe, did you walk Chiyo home? That's so cute! Did you give her a goodnight kiss?" Shigure asked with a funny face.

"No! I didn't kiss her! Why would I do that!" He shouted, "She just told me something and I felt bad for her, she's had it worse than any of us, so I walked her home!"

"What do you mean?" Shigure asked, not thinking that he might have been prying into something he shouldn't.

"Not only did she have to put up with a curse, but she watched her parents get killed and then watched as her grandmother died slowly, and she couldn't do a thing!" He pounded the wall angrily, then ran away from Shigure, almost bumping into Tohru in the hall. She looked like she was about to cry, but he ran past her and up the stairs.


	3. Are you sure? Ch3

Chiyo approached the house as she flipped through her folder. She had stayed up late last night and worked on them while she wasn't doing chores. The pages had been all over her desk, she had almost ruined some with the soup she had for lunch. She stepped up onto the back porch, it was where every one else always entered the house, so she did, too. The door was wide open to let the nice breeze flow in and Chiyo could see Tohru in the kitchen, washing dishes which were probably dirty from lunch.

"Hi Tohru!" Chiyo said cheerfully as she closed up her folder.

Tohru turned her head enough to see Chiyo coming towards her through the dining room, she smiled excitedly, but her smile faltered as she remembered what Kyo said the night before. She threw her hands out of the sink, without drying them and ran to Chiyo, crying.

"I'm so sorry! I had no idea you went through so much, and I'm practically whining that my mother died. You had to watch your die!" Tohru sobbed.

Chiyo lowered her head sadly, "Kyo told you?"

"He didn't say any details! Please don't be mad at him!" Tohru jumped back, realizing she may have gotten Kyo into trouble with Chiyo.

"I'm not mad, I'm actually relieved," Chiyo told Tohru, "I didn't really want to tell you, but I knew I would end up telling you eventually, but now I don't really need to. You know what happened and that's good enough."

"Okay, good." Tohru said, relieved, "So what do you have in the folder?"

"Oh … I brought some drawings to show you and Kyo and Yuki and Shigure."

Tohru's face lit up brighter than a star, "Really? I didn't know you like to draw!"

"Mhm. They're actually pages from a manga I started when grandmother was sick. She helped me outline a plot, since it was my first, and I started the drawings, but I haven't worked on it at all since she died until last night."

"Oh! I'm so excited to read see them! I'll finish the dishes first, okay?"

"Alright. I'll go put them out on the table."

Chiyo skipped through the hall, passing Shigure on her way to the dinner table, "Hello Shigure." Chiyo said as she plopped down on a cushion.

"Good morning Chiyo."

"Um … It's the afternoon."

"It is? I must have slept in. Oh well. So, are those really your very own drawings?" Shigure asked as she spread them out on the table top.

"Yep! My grandfather was a great artist, my grandmother told me and so was my mother."

"And you're drawing a manga?" Shigure took a seat beside her.

"Yes."

"What is it about?"

"Well, I guess the short way to explain is that it's about a magical tribe in a rainforest somewhere that is discovered by an explorer.* I think it sounds pretty lame when I say it like that, but grandmother thought it was a good idea and helped me polish it up."

Tohru pulled the plug out of the sink and sat down on Chiyo's other side, "It _does_ sound interesting." She picked up a couple of sheets and looked at the sketches closely, "These are really good! Hey, and this one looks like Yuki!" Tohru showed Shigure and Chiyo.

They both laughed, "It does! I didn't even mean to do that! I created that character long before I even met Yuki. It's funny, his nickname is the 'prince' and he is actually the chief's son." Chiyo explained in a giggling fit.

"Hey, what are you being so noisy about?" Kyo asked from behind them.

Tohru grabbed the paper from Shigure and jumped up to show him, "Look, these are Chiyo's drawings! Did you know she could draw like this? But we were laughing that this boy, right here," Tohru pointed him out to Kyo, "He looks like Yuki, don't you think? But with longer hair!"

"Speaking of Yuki with longer hair," Shigure interrupted, "Ayame is coming to visit today."

"What!" Kyo yelled angrily and Yuki appeared beside him with a look as dangerous as Kyo's.

"I'm leaving then!" They said at the same time, then began to storm out of the house.

"Do you really want to leave helpless Tohru and Chiyo here with him, though?" Shigure asked, knowing the answer, and the boys halted in the middle of the room.

"I don't think we would trust _you_ to be alone with them." Yuki muttered.

"Oh, Yuki, you're so funny." Shigure said and he huffed a fake laugh.

"Why did you invite that idiot?" Kyo yelled at him.

"How do you know I invited him? Maybe he just wanted to visit with his younger brother." Shigure answered innocently.

"Younger brother?" Chiyo wondered aloud.

"Oh, yes, Ayame is Yuki's older brother." Tohru explained.

"Well, his younger brother does not want to visit with him."

Chiyo was looking down at her pictures, she was listening into the boys fighting, but she was trying to figure out what she thought was wrong with her pages. She could see there was a problem, she just didn't know what. Then she jumped up and yelled; "I lost a page! That's what was wrong!" As she ran out of the house.

"No! Don't go out there while that pervert is still outside!" Kyo shouted after her, but she just ignored him. She had to find the missing page before it got too far.

She looked through all the bushes near the pathway she had taken. After a while, she finally spotted a patch of white and black and ran over to it. She pulled the paper from the grip of the leaves and branches, then she spotted the material laying on the ground inside the bush. She didn't notice it was moving because the leaves were moving in the wind. Chiyo slipped her hand under the bush to pull out the material. The thing inside felt it move and jumped out to wrap itself around her warmth.

Chiyo screamed as the snake wrapped itself around her waist. She curled up into the fetal position, clutching her art and started crying, she didn't if she should move or not. A minute later she heard someone running towards her. She opened one eye to see Kyo bent over her.

"Kyo, get the snake off me, please?" She said to him as she continued to sob. He tore the snake from her waist and threw it down to the ground at his feet, then began stomping on it. "Kyo! Don't kill it!"

"You stupid snake! You scared the crap outta her!" Kyo yelled. He picked it up and threw it towards the house.

"You didn't kill it, did you?" Chiyo asked as she sat up, she wiped her nose and sniffled a bit.

"Nah, he's tougher than he looks, unfortunately." He assured Chiyo and helped her to her feet. They walked back to the house after Chiyo grabbed the material she had seen. After living with the curse of her own family her entire life, she knew the snake was probably Yuki's older brother and the material she was holding was probably his clothes.

Shigure picked the snake up off the ground. It looked pretty hurt and beat up, but he was still alive, as far as Shigure knew. Shigure spotted Kyo and Chiyo returning and yelled to his cousin, "Kyo! What were you doing? You almost killed him … I think."

"I just gave him what he deserves! That's the second time!"

"Second time?" Chiyo asked.

"He actually went under Miss Honda's clothes the first time, stupid snake." Yuki said.

"Oooh, you're just jelous." The snake said.

"No, I'm not. If I was, I'd be a pervert like you." Yuki growled.

There was a burst of smoke as Ayame transformed back into a human once again. Tohru jumped and turned around. Chiyo just looked at her feet and held out the clothes for him to take.

"Oh, thank you very much," He took the robe from her hands and slipped it on, he glanced at her again and lifted her chin to get a good look at her face, "You must be Chiyo! Shigure told me about you. I think you're as cute as Tohru! And I thought that wasn't possible!" Ayame told her happily.

"Oh, I'm not as cute as her!" Chiyo and Tohru replied, then blushed.

Ayame gasped in amusement, "Who's drawings are these? Oh don't tell me! Yuki, you've finally decided to show every one your hidden talent! Please tell me that's right."

"Right, Shigure would be my first choice to share with." Yuki told him sarcastically, trying to be mean, which Ayame chose to ignore.

"Are you saying you laid all these out just to show me?" Ayame yelled excitedly.

"No, you stupid snake! Those are Chiyo's!" Kyo yelled in Ayame's face before Yuki could. Kyo ripped the paper Ayame had picked up from his hand and set it back down on the table. Chiyo flinched when he did so, she didn't want them to wreck her drawings!

"Well, anyway, these are amazing, Chiyo, though I _am _ disappointed they aren't Yuki's." He said dramatically. He picked up another page to read it, but Kyo took it from him after only a second, "Kyo, I just want to read them. I'm not going to steal her ideas or anything. I couldn't draw well enough to get it published anyway."

"I don't care! You don't deserve to read it, you pervert!" Kyo yelled at him.

"Oh, Kyo, by saying that it's like saying I can't do what I want." Ayame said.

"I don't think you should be allowed to do what you want." Yuki muttered at his brother.

"You two are just over reacting to something I couldn't help." Ayame replied and went to sit next to Shigure. He leaned closer to Shigure, pretending to cower from the two teen boys in the room, "Shigure, why are they so mean to me? I think they actually want to hurt me!"

"It's alright, I'll protect you." Shigure said soothingly.

"What if they hurt you?"

"Then I guess you'll have to go on without me."

"But Shigure, I wouldn't be able to live without you."

"Cut it out you two!" Kyo yelled.

Ayame sat up straight and shrugged his shoulders, then he picked up another paper, bending over it to hide it from Kyo. Kyo saw it anyway and went to take it away from him again. He grabbed the sheet and a second later they all heard a rip.

"Kyo! Look at what you've done!" Ayame said, shaking his head.

"You're the one that kept taking them!"

"Well, you could have let me read them peacefully."

"The only time I'm going to let you do something in peace is when you're lying in a coffin!" Kyo threatened.

"Yuki! Please restrain your pet? He's trying to kill me!" Ayame asked Yuki calmly.

"He's not my pet! Why would I ever want a cat?"

Chiyo stood beside Kyo, she had slowly shuffled over as the boys argued with tears piling up in her eyes. She took the paper from Kyo's hands, and he remembered what had happened. Chiyo looked at the sheet. It had a big tear right through the middle.

"Can you fix it?" Kyo asked her.

"Does it look like it's fixable?" Ayame asked.

"Shut up, stupid snake!"

"I can probably tape it together then trace it ..." Chiyo smiled weakly.

"I'll get you some tape, Chiyo!" Tohru interrupted, then went to shuffle through all the drawers to find a roll of tape. She came back and helped her tape it back together.

"Oh … I didn't bring any extra pencils or paper …" Chiyo said sadly, so she plopped down on a cushion and gathered her papers together, then placed them back in the folder.

"Chiyo, Tohru, would you like to go to my secret base? I think it would be a nice day to work on it." Yuki asked them kindly. He was trying to get Chiyo's mind off the ripped picture and also to get away from his brother.

"That's sounds great! Come on Chiyo, you'll like it!" Tohru jumped up and pulled Chiyo along behind her until they were outside.

"Wait for me! I want to come too!" Ayame yelled and trotted after them.

"No way!" Yuki yelled back, and started running. The girls followed him, Chiyo laughed until they couldn't see her any more.

"Are you sure you didn't do anything last night?" Shigure asked as they watched the four disappear, "Chiyo seems to be out of her shell a bit more than before. And she started drawing, as well. I didn't even know she liked to draw."

"I don't think I did." Kyo said as he tried to recall the night before.

"Well whatever it was, keep it up and give her all the attention she wants. We wouldn't want to run her off."

"Whatever." Kyo replied and walked away.

"She's a keeper. Especially for you." Shigure said, once he was alone.

_* sorry Chiyo's plot isn't very good. I didn't want to have a good idea then not want to use it because I put it in here_


	4. A merry Christmas? Ch4

**I'm sorry it's so short, but I wanted to get this part out before or on Christmas day so Merry Christmas to everyone!**

A few months had finally passed since Chiyo met the Soma family and Tohru. It was finally Christmas and Chiyo had slept over in Tohru's room as she didn't have anyone to celebrate it with. In the morning Tohru got up early, without waking anyone, to cook a special Christmas breakfast.

Chiyo went down stairs soon before she was finished, completely dressed and carrying a couple bags full of presents.

"Oh, good morning, Chiyo! I didn't think you would be awake so soon." Tohru said.

"I didn't think I would be either," Chiyo chuckled happily, "It smells really good, Tohru."

"Thank you. I thought I would make a nice big breakfast as part of my Christmas gift."

"Good morning, Tohru, Chiyo." Yuki said as he entered the kitchen. Chiyo crossed through the hall to put her presents down, then decided to help Tohru out and set out the dishes.

"Good morning Yuki."

"Chiyo was right, this really does smell delicious." Yuki said, sniffing the fumes in the air.

"Ugh, what's that smell? It's making me hungrier!" Kyo moaned as he waltzed into the room, holding his belly which made a few hungry, grumbling noises.

"Oh, I'm almost done Kyo! Just give me a couple more minutes! You can go make sure Shigure is awake."

"Why do I have to? Besides, do we really want him out here?" Kyo asked.

"Kyo, it sounds like you're not grateful towards me for letting you stay here. I could kick you out after all, then you would have nowhere to go." Shigure said to Kyo when he appeared and sat down on a cushion.

Chiyo began to help Tohru prepare the food and brought it all to the table, the scent shushed the boys up and they all began to eat quietly for a while, savouring the taste. They cleaned out each of the bowls and relaxed, completely full and content.

"Chiyo, what are in the bags?" Shigure asked curiously.

"Oh, right!" Chiyo turned around and pulled the bags closer to her, then pulled out four tubes, and handed one to each of the other people around the table. They ripped off the paper excitedly and unrolled the paper they held in their hands.

"These are so cute, Chiyo!" Tohru exclaimed as she looked at each of the tings on her new poster. Chiyo had drawn everyone from the Chinese zodiac and astrological zodiac in their animal form. For Shigure, Yuki and Kyo she had drawn their transformed selves, a dog, rat and cat. Beside each one was a poem about the Chinese zodiac she had found in a book.

"Yes, Chiyo. Thank you. I'll put this in my work room and it will always be an inspiration to me." Shigure said and Yuki also said a polite thank you.

"Now I get to give you my presents!" Tohru said and pulled out another bag. She gave them each a different coloured package and they opened them at once. In each package there was a stuffed animal. "They were so cute and they reminded me of each of you."

Chiyo held an oversized scorpion, Shigure had a black, fluffy puppy, Yuki opened his to find a grey rat and Kyo held an orange cat.

"I couldn't believe I even found the right colours so easily."

"Thank you, Tohru." Yuki said, seeming delighted with his presents.

"Yes, thank you," Shigure agreed, then stood up, "I think I will go put mine upstairs." Then he left the room and they heard him walk up the stairs with his gifts.

"Me too." Tohru said, and followed Shigure up the stairs.

Kyo also went up the stairs with his two presents, Yuki stood up, but instead of leaving for his room, he pulled a package from a drawer and sat back down beside Chiyo.

"This is from Shigure, Kyo and I. We pitched in together to have it made for you." Yuki told her, then handed over the package. Chiyo ripped it open and looked at the cover of her new book.

"Didn't I draw this?" She wondered, she ran her finger over the print of her own sketch.

"Yes, you left it here about a month ago. So I thought we would get a sketch book made for you. We also used the drawing for a notebook for Tohru, I hope that is okay with you." Yuki asked her.

"Yes, that's fine, but ..." Chiyo said with tears welling up in her eyes, "Thank you so much Yuki! I think this is one of the best presents I've ever gotten!" Chiyo hugged him happily. He gasped in surprise and hugged her back after a moment.

He let go of her quickly and forced her to sit up, she didn't know why. Until she saw Kyo standing in the doorway. He looked angry, and very hurt, Chiyo jumped up and tried to say something, but he ran past her, through the back door without putting shoes on.

"Kyo! Come back!" Chiyo ran after him. She hopped down into the snow and ran in the direction his footprints led her, "Kyo! Where did you go?" She found him at the side of the house, about to start climbing up the ladder. She stopped him by tugging on his arm.

"What's your problem?" He snapped, "Maybe I just want to sit on the roof by myself!" He tried to start up the ladder again, but she grabbed his bracelet, and accidentally yanked it off. He fell off the first step of the ladder, to the ground. Chiyo fell to her knees beside him, worried she had hurt him somehow. But she backed up slowly when she saw his back and head begin to morph. It bulged in spots until his entire back had grown and ripped out of his shirt. His hair had disappeared and his head was shaped like a lizard of some sort. His skin was brown and he was a lot taller than before.

He stood up and looked down at Chiyo, who was lying in the ground, looking up at him curiously. He looked behind her at the corner of the house where Shigure, Yuki and Tohru had gathered, then Kyo ran away into the forest.

Chiyo ran after him, not worried about her already frozen feet, not worried she might get frost bite. "Kyo! Come back! Please!" She kept yelling at the forest. She heard many noises, but for once, she wasn't scared, she just wanted to get Kyo back home. "Kyo!"

She saw a large figure about fifty yards away from her after she had been running awhile. She ran towards it and it spotted her, then started to run again. "Kyo! I'm not going to stop running until you're beside me again!" She screamed after him. He stopped running after a moment and waited for her to catch up to him.

Chiyo was holding breath, she had almost thrown up when she reached him. She held her hand out with his bracelet. He groaned angrily at her but put it on. He transformed back to his regular self.

"What are you just that scared of me? Am I that disgusting? You can't talk to me in that form? Why wouldn't you be? You're scared of everything! Why did you even come after me? What were you-" Kyo yelled at her, but she cut him off.

"I'm not scared of you! For the first time in my life, I'm not scared of anything. I wasn't scared of meeting an animal that could kill me in one hit! I wasn't scared of you clawing me apart! And I'm not scared of you at all! The only thing I'm scared of right now, is the possibility you might run away and I'll never see you again! I never ever want that to happen! I would never be able to smile again because you would never be around to make me smile!" She shouted back, he looked at her, astonished a girl like her could let out such a loud voice for all that she had said.

The emotion of anger returned to his face, "No, you're lying just like my mother! Just like everyone else! No one can ever truthfully say they're not scared of me after seeing me in that form! Especially not some one like you!"

"Well, I _am _telling the truth! Why would I lie to you?"

Kyo opened his mouth, about to yell something back at her, but he stopped himself and looked at the ground, his face turning redder and redder by the second. Chiyo wasn't sure if it was from anger or something else. "If it's true then prove it."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"Kiss me!" He said, he thought she would never do it. But she walked straight over to him, Kyo didn't notice, he was still staring at the ground. She bent her neck slightly and stood on her toes until her lips collided with his cheek. She stepped away after a second and waited for him to look up. He stepped towards her and hugged her tightly, not ready to let go at any time. She wrapped her arms around him, with a smile on her face once again.

They stood there for a while, then finally let go of each other. Kyo wiped a baby tear from the corner of his eye. A second later he collapsed on the ground from exhaustion.

"Kyo? Are you okay!" Chiyo knelt down beside him.

"Snow... Too much …. water." He gasped dramatically. Chiyo laughed and helped him back to his feet. He leaned on her as they made their way back to the house.

They took quite a while finding their way back, they hadn't been paying attention to where they were going and Kyo's exhaustion didn't help them at all. When they finally made it back to the house, they found Tohru, Yuki and Shigure waiting at the table with the back door wide open. Chiyo helped Kyo onto the porch and back inside. She shut the door behind them to keep out the snow.

"All is well that ends well, I guess." Shigure muttered to himself, "Everything will be alright for these two."


	5. A happy engagement? Ch5

The new year had finally arrived and it was their first week at school in the year. The rumour got around really quickly that Kyo and Chiyo had started dating over the holidays. When anyone asked Tohru or Chiyo about it, both of them would say he hadn't actually asked her out, but Tohru would say it didn't look like he had asked her _not _to be his girlfriend. Then if anyone asked Kyo he would yell at them for being nosy.

Kyo, Chiyo and Tohru arrived at home after school, while Yuki had a student council meeting. As they had been walking, Chiyo had slipped her hand into Kyo's and they were still holding each other's hands as they walked through the door. Shigure was waiting on the other side of the front door for them to return. He pointed at their hands and said:

"You might not want to do that."

"And why not?" Kyo asked as he let go of Chiyo's hand to pull off his scarf.

"We have a . . . visitor." Shigure said, as if the visitor had worn him out and annoyed him while doing so.

"Why should that stop me from holding her hand?" Kyo wondered.

"YOU WERE HOLDING ANOTHER GIRL'S HAND!" A scream came from their dining room and an angry face swooshed by Chiyo, the wind almost knocking her over. It bee-lined straight for Kyo and pinned him against the wall, "WHO IS SHE? WHERE IS SHE?" The girl yelled at Kyo. Chiyo was cowering behind Shigure, hiding from the being of terror.

"SHIGURE! Why did you call her?" Kyo turned to Shigure, still pinned against the wall.

"She actually called me to check up on you," Shigure said innocently, then turned and began to walk into the next room, "Oh, but then I told her all about your Christmas break. I thought she would love the story." As he moved away, Chiyo was left without a shield and stood by herself, head down like she used to have it and shivering.

"KYO! I love you more than anything in the world! AND YOU'RE JUST GOING TO THROW AWAY OUR PERFECT RELATIONSHIP FOR A GIRL YOU'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO BE WITH!"

"Kagura! Please let go of Kyo!" Tohru pleaded. Chiyo was sniffling quietly, shaking her head and covering her ears. She finally ran away and up the stairs to one of the rooms to hide herself away from the madness. Kyo finally got Kagura off him by catching her off guard when Chiyo ran. Kyo followed Chiyo to try and calm her down.

"Was that her?" Kagura asked Tohru, still feeling violent, but controlling herself well.

"Yes, that's Chiyo."

"Chiyo?" Kyo ran through the hall upstairs, looking for Chiyo, he heard a quiet sob come from his room. He opened the door, it was dark, but still bright enough to see the figure hunched in the corner and the face that looked up at him for comfort.

"Kyo?" Chiyo squeaked.

Kyo turned on the lights, then went over to sit beside her. "It's okay, Chiyo. It's just Kagura, I won't let her hurt you. Can we take off your coat? It's all wet from the snow." Chiyo nodded and pulled off her coat. Kyo threw it at the door for him to take when they went back downstairs, but Chiyo curled back up into a ball and refused to move.

Kyo sighed, he threw his blanket over her shoulders then went to take the soaked coat downstairs to dry. He hung it up on the hooks near the door then went into the dining room where Shigure and Kagura were sitting.

"Good job, you two. Now she's curled up in my room and won't come out!" Kyo told them.

"What did I do?" Kagura wondered.

"And what did _I_ do?" Shigure added.

"Y_ou _ called her here and _you_ scared her half to death!" Kyo yelled.

"I already told you. I did not call her." Shigure said in his innocent tone.

"I'm sorry," Kagura said quietly, she was hunched over, trying to hide her face behind her knees, "I didn't want to scare her, I just wanted to know who this … other girl is."

"I don't care if you're sorry. You still scared her." Kyo growled and went back upstairs.

The front door opened and closed and a minute later, Yuki was standing in the hall. He saw Kagura and smiled, "Hello Kagura. It's nice to see you again."

Kagura responded with a sniffle, "Kagura scared Chiyo when they got home, Kyo just yelled at her for it." Shigure explained to Yuki.

"Oh, is she alright?"

"Yes, I'm sure she's fine, she just won't come downstairs."

About an hour after Yuki arrived home, Tohru announced that dinner was ready, so Yuki went up the steps to tell Chiyo and Kyo. Chiyo was still huddled in the corner, but she was talking with Kyo and didn't looked scared any more.

"Dinner is ready."

"I don't think I want any." Chiyo said and hid her face again.

"If you're scared of Kagura, she won't try to hurt you, and if she or anyone else does, Kyo and I will do everything we can to protect you and Miss Honda, okay?" He promised her.

Chiyo looked away sullenly, but nodded and stood up with Kyo's sheet still wrapped around her shoulders, and the boys followed her downstairs. Chiyo stood beside the doorway to their dining room, peeked her head around the edge to look inside. The girl, Kagura, was sitting with Shigure and Tohru, they noticed Chiyo immediately.

"Chiyo! Come have some dinner! I bet you're starving!" Tohru said cheerfully. Kagura blushed and turned herself away.

Kyo walked by Chiyo, "Come on," He said in her ear as he passed.

Chiyo took a seat in between Kyo and Yuki. Kagura turned again to face table, and saw Kyo had sat down beside her. He had forgotten to pick a different seat.

A big smile grew on her face, lit her face up and she squealed, attacking him with a forceful hug, "Kyo! SEE? You DO love me!"

"What! No! Get off of me!" Kyo yelled and tried to get her arms off him. He moved back too far and hit Chiyo slightly, she backed away to the safety of Yuki. He stood up and peeled Kagura's arms off of Kyo.

"Kagura, now isn't time for that. It's time time to eat, now behave." Yuki said and went back to his own seat.

Everyone ate their dinner quietly, some, once in a while, would look up from their plates and look at their company, trying to read their expressions.

"So, Kagura, are you planning to stay for the entire weekend?" Shigure asked, he seemed to be trying to cover the tension, but Yuki and Kyo knew he was trying to set something off like a bomb.

"Of course! I must make sure my Kyo is being taken care of!" She answered enthusiastically.

"_Your_ Kyo? I don't belong to you!" Kyo bursted.

"What are you talking about? You are mine and I am yours! Ever since the day you asked me to marry you!" She explained to him.

"You are engaged and you didn't tell me?" Chiyo asked, the tears growing around her eyes.

"She was going to kill me if I didn't! And we were like five years old! It doesn't mean anything when you're that small!" He tried to assure her.

"You meant it! I know you've always wanted to be with me forever!" Kagura shouted. Shigure sat at the sidelines with a big grin as he watched his home entertainment.

"Why would I? All you do is beat me up! The last time you were here I got so many bruises and still had to go to school! No one would shut up about it!"

"I've never hit you in my life! Why would I ever do that! I love you, Kyo!"

"Like hell, you haven't! Chiyo, are you finished eating?" Kyo asked, calming down for a second, she nodded, "Then let's go." Kyo stood up and stomped out of the room, Chiyo shrugged carelessly and followed him out.

Kyo walked a pace ahead of Chiyo in the snow, she didn't really care, she could tell he was angry and didn't bother to talk to him. Chiyo unlocked the door of her apartment and invited him in. He stepped in without taking his winter wear off.

"You know you can stay here as long as you like, right?" Chiyo asked him, "I can tell you don't actually like that girl, and if she's staying over night, well . . . I know it's not like you to put up with things and people you dislike." She smiled.

"Thanks, Chiyo."

"It's no problem." Kyo began to pull off his winter clothes and Chiyo locked the door while he did so. Chiyo tore a blanket and a couple pillows from a storage closet, "I don't have an extra bed, so you'll have to sleep on the floor. . ."

"It's okay. It's better than being in the same house as Kagura!" He groaned, "And knowing her, she would want to sleep in my room."

"Uhm . . . Alright then. Good night." Chiyo said and walked away, down the hall.

"Goodnight."

The next morning, Chiyo and Kyo returned to Shigure's house. Kagura was waiting out front for Kyo to return.

"Kyo! I was sooo worried about you last night! But oh well, you've come back for me!" Kagura yelled happily as she ran towards Kyo. She jumped on him, squeezed him harshly with her arms.

"KAGURA! GETOFF!" Kyo shouted.

"Kyo! You're not . . ." Kagura stepped back painfully, "You're not mad at me, are you, Kyo?"

"Of course I am! I have a girlfriend and you scared her half to death last night!" Kyo yelled at her. He sucked a breath of air, trying to calm himself down, "Come on, Chiyo. Let's go inside." He put his arm around her and she did the same.

"Don't hug her! You'll transform!"

"She knows about the curse, and she's cursed, too! Plus I think she would figure it out with you shouting to the world I might transform! Now just leave us alone."

"Oh . . . Fine then." Kagura sulked and trailed along behind them into the house.

"Oh! You're back! Just in time for lunch, too! I'm almost done." Tohru saw them walk into the house and continued to prepare the food. Shigure heard and joined them around the table.

"Shigure! My love!" Kagura squealed and jumped on Shigure like she had Kyo.

"Kagura, what are you doing?" He asked, looking down at the girl with her arms wrapped around his waist.

"I'm hugging you! You're the love of my life and you'll never leave me!" Kagura cuddled up to him more.

"Well, I don't know about that. You're a bit young for me. Are you even in highschool?" He wondered aloud.

"And you'll never leave me, right?" Kagura towered over him menacingly.

"That's right . . . My love." Shigure said with a hilarious smile plastered across his face.

"Good." Kagura cuddled up to his side again.

"Kyo! What did you do? Kagura's trying to use me to make you jealous!" Shigure whined to Kyo.

"I didn't do anything! She's the one that won't leave me and Chiyo alone!"

"Well, now she won't leave _me_ alone!" Shigure moaned then turned to Kagura, "Kagura! Go fall for Yuki! He's much closer to your age!"

"Okay!" Kagura agreed happily, jumped up and went to hunt down Yuki.

"She reminds me a lot of one of my cousins."

"Really? Which one?"

"Sagittarius."

"The archer."

"Yes, he's really protective of the gemini twins. If anything happens to them, even if it's small, he goes crazy, like her. He's really loud and doesn't hold anything back. If he hates you, you know it, if he loves you, you'll know that, too. He had an issue with a girl from his class a few years ago. He kept insisting he loved her and the girl got him in a lot of trouble."

"What are the twins like?"

"They're really quiet, but we all know they love Takeo."

"Takeo is Sagittarius?"

"Yes."

"They sound like some interesting characters."

"They are. Everyone in my family is."

"Same goes for ours." Shigure said as Yuki ran by the door and Kagura closely followed, screaming out his name happily, like she thought it was a fun game.


	6. A cheerful reunion? ch6

"Chiyo! Who are these three?" Shigure asked her, though he already knew the answer.

"It's like they knew we were talking about them last night." Chiyo sighed.

"You were talking about us? What did she say? It better not have been bad!" Shouted the taller of their three new guests. He was obviously Takeo, he didn't look anything like the other two, who were almost completely identical and holding hands.

"No, no, nothing bad. She was just telling us a bit about your family, you see, we have a curse on our family, too."

"Wow, Chiyo did you know there was another family with a curse like ours?" Takeo was calm immediately.

Chiyo shrugged and walked into the house casually, "I did after I met them." Shigure led the rest inside after her. They found Chiyo in the kitchen, exactly where they could always find her around a meal.

Her face lit up as soon as she saw the new three people in the house, "Are you Chiyo's cousins?" Tohru asked.

"She isn't part of your family, is she?" The little boy asked.

"No, she doesn't seem to be." His sister replied.

"Uhmm, no, I'm not."

"Why are you here, then?" They wondered.

"I live here, of course!"

"Why?"

"Uh . . . Because Shigure let me."

"Chiyo, how about you introduce us all," Shigure suggested, "Before this becomes any more akward."

"Right. Uhm, well, this is Takeo, the Sagittarius, and Mui and Ren, the Gemini. And this is Shigure, Kyo, Yuki Soma and Tohru Honda."

"Honda. I recognize that name." Mui said.

"Yes, me too." Ren agreed.

"A relative of yours was in a car accident."

"We read it in the paper."

"Hey, that's really insensitive, you two!" Chiyo scolded.

"That was over a year ago." Tohru replied with a smile.

"They remember almost everything they learn, read and hear," Takeo explained, "Hey! Chiyo, do you _want_ to transform? Stop standing so close to him!"

"Takeo, we hold the same curse, he won't make me transform. See?" Chiyo hugged Kyo and he put his arms around her as well. Takeo was in front of Kyo in an instant and had ripped Chiyo away from him.

"WHAT are you doing? That's my cousin! Don't you dare TOUCH her! Or I'll rip your hands off so you can't!" Takeo threatened.

"Oh, REALLY? And who made you the boss of her?" Kyo backfired.

"I never said that! I'm just protecting her from creeps, like you!"

"I'M NOT A CREEP! I'm the one that protects her EVERY SINGLE DAY!" At this point they were staring each other straight in the eyes, focused completely on each other.

"Okay then! Let's take this outside and see who protects her the best! Unless you're afraid you'll lose! Are you?"

"No way! Let's go!"

They kept shouting at each other, they didn't see the tired figure walk down the steps. "Kagura! You're finally awake!" Tohru said happily. Kagura nodded, rubbed her eyes and looked up to see the two boys ready to kill each other.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY KYOOO!" Kagura screamed, wide awake. She lunged at Takeo, tackled him and sent the two of them flying through the back door.

"Oh, Kagura! I'd prefer it if you didn't destroy my house!" Shigure said, seeming to be completely calm about it.

"HEY! KAGURA! Get off him!" Kyo ran through the smashed door frame to spilt up the two rolled around the yard. Chiyo followed closely behind him.

"Kagura! Please don't hurt him! He's really the only family I have!" Chiyo tugged at Takeo while Kyo tried his best to pin down Kagura. Takeo stopped swiping at Kagura and turned to his cousin with a concerned look.

"I'm not the only family you have left!" He exclaimed, clutching her shoulders, looking into her eyes.

"You're the only one that will talk to me."

"That's not true!"

"Yes it is! After those people killed my parents and I wouldn't talk to anyone, every one in the zodiac gave up on me! They didn't even try talking to me!"

"What about Ren and Mui?"

"Right, because they're so helpful and sympathetic. They're only kids, Takeo! No one else cares anymore!" Chiyo sniffled and wrapped herself around his chest.

"That's not true! Every one is super worried about you. They just don't know if you're comfortable enough to talk to anyone yet. That's why we came over today. Besides, these people seem like they're pretty nice to you. I bet they love you just as much as I do."

"Thanks, Takeo." Chiyo sniffled.

"Can we cut the emotional crap yet?" Ren whined.

"Yeah, you guys are super boring!" Mui agreed.

Back inside the house everyone was much more comfortable and calm, talking nicely with each other, except Kagura and Tohru, who were working away at the door, they had to get rid of the cold breeze in the dining room as soon as possible.

"So, you have the same curse as us?" Takeo asked.

"That's what they said earlier, so _obviously_." Mui said.

"It's not like it's hard to believe." Ren added.

They ignored the twins and Yuki answered him, "Yes, none of knew this until we met Chiyo, and it's true, we can't transform each other, just as if we were in the same family."

"The what do you guys turn into?"

"Our family is cursed by the Chinese zodiac. I'm the rat, Shigure is the dog, Kyo is the cat and Kagura, she's the boar."

"That's cool. What about Tohru?"

"She's not a relative. She's just staying with us."

"That's . . . nice of you. I don't think any of our parents would let a normal person stay with us."

"Luckily, Shigure isn't anyone's parent, and he doesn't seem to care about things as much as he should."

"Yeah, if Shigure had a kid, I'd really feel sorry for it." Kyo added.

"Look, we're done!" Tohru and Kagura stood up, showing off the finished doors.

"You two did a great job!" Yuki praised them.

"So, are you staying for lunch?" Tohru asked Takeo and the twins.

"No, I told my aunt we would be home by twelve thirty and these two wanted to go to the library on the way home," Takeo explained, "So, I guess we should be going. Good-bye everyone. Chiyo." Takeo nodded for Chiyo to follow them to the door. They put their coats on and the twins were the first outside.

Chiyo followed Takeo out onto the grass, even though it was a bit chilly. She hugged Takeo good-bye and asked the twins if they would give her a hug. They refused.

"Chiyo, come to auntie's house sometime. She really is worried about you." He hugged her again then began to walk away. She went back to the door step and waved at them for a minute, then turned to go back into the house. Before she could turn the knob, two men, dressed in black came from around the side of the house and grabbed her. She struggled against them, but they were still much stronger than her.

"Takeo! Help! TAKEO!" She screamed as they brought her closer to a van that had been hidden by the walls of the house. The front door burst open and Kyo scanned the yard, "Kyo! Help mee!" He ran to her, but the two men threw her in the van, jumped in behind her and closed the door, a second later, the van was moving and the men were tying her up.

Takeo tried to stop the van and jumped on, but it shook him off when they went over a bump. He sprinted back to the house where everyone was standing on the front step.

"Did they just kidnap Chiyo?" Tohru asked, the tears already dripping down her face.

"Yup, auntie knew that was going to happen soon. I'm going to follow that van. Mui and Ren, you stay here and call your mom." Takeo told them, he turned to start tailing the van.

"Hey, I'm coming, too!" Kyo said and ran after him, Yuki closely followed shouting he was going, as well.

"Fine! But if either of you slow down, I'm leaving you behind!" Takeo shouted at them, Kyo and Yuki nodded, saying they were prepared to do the same to him.


	7. A Happy Ever After? Ch7

Kyo, Yuki and Takeo followed the red lights of the van that carried Chiyo away from them. It had taken a few minutes for them to catch up, but they luckily took the right turns and found it. The people inside didn't seem to notice they had three young teenagers tailing them, but that was fine for the three.

_I just hope they don't hug her or anything._ Each one of them thought something like that, they were worried of what could happen to her. Eventually, the van began to slow down and it turned through the doors of an old warehouse. The boys hid behind the corner of a nearby building while they caught their breath.

"So, what do we do now?" Takeo asked, he had nothing close to a plan in his head yet, his only goal was to get Chiyo out.

"We go and save her!" Kyo told him.

"Stupid cat, we can't just run in there and expect to ever come out again." Yuki said.

"Then what do we do?"

"I think we could grab those two over there and change into their clothes, there has to be another one around here somewhere." Yuki suggested.

"I'm game. It should be easy to take down those two." Takeo agreed.

"Alright. Let's go." They hurried away from their shelter and towards the closing doors the van had drove through.

Inside the building, Chiyo was tied up to a chair after they dragged her out of the van. Luckily for her, none of them grabbed her in any way that could be mistaken as a hug, so she didn't transform, but she was exhausted and extremely stressed out when she woke, she was close to transforming on her own. She wriggled against her bindings for a bit until she decided she couldn't do that any more.

After a while, the lights inside the room flashed on, they made her blink and squint as her eyes adjusted. She realized she was in a room filled with tools. She was the only person in there, but she began to cry as she thought of what they were planning to do with the tools. Chiyo noticed the video camera that hung from a corner of the room, and the mirror implanted in the wall in front of her, she assumed it was like a window on the other side and they were watching her. She stopped crying, she didn't want to give them any satisfaction.

A man walked into the room, he was fairly scrawny, but Chiyo thought any of the bulkier men would be outside the room, watching out for any interruptions.

The man looked at her hungrily, like he wanted to tear her apart and eat her piece by piece. At that thought, Chiyo felt like she was going to be sick, but kept herself from doing anything. She just sat strongly, without crying, without even looking at the man.

"Chiyo, are you happy to see me again?" The man asked, his face was too close to Chiyo's for her comfort, the man smelt as if he hadn't brushed his teeth or even taken a bath in over a month, which he probably hadn't. Chiyo didn't answer him, she had no idea where he knew her from, "Don't you remember me? I know I saw you in that closet. You watched your parents die, you poor girl." He faked pity and ran the side of his knife against her cheek. Chiyo winced slightly, but didn't give him any more of a reaction.

"I would have done this a long time ago, Chiyo. But killing children, it's just not satisfying, you know what I mean?" He asked her as he paced around her chair, as if she _would_ know, "It's a good thing, though, because now I get to do it AND I'm being paid. Isn't it wonderful?"

"Who's paying you?"

"Chiyo! You have such a sweet voice! I never knew, too bad I'll be ripping that voice box of your out."

"Who's paying you!"

"And I never expected you to be so brave when we finally met again! I thought you would be in tears, begging me to let you live. Oh well, makes no difference to me."

"WHO is paying you?"

"It's not like it matters to you. You'll be dead in a little while anyway. But if you must know, his name is Akito Soma. He told me exactly where to find you. I have no idea how he found me. After I killed your parents, I changed my name and left the area for a while. I'm still very surprised no one ever suspected me on my travels."

"I don't care about your travels. I don't care about you at all."

"Honestly, Chiyo, when did you become so brave?"

"I have friends that taught me how to be brave. What bravery is. How easy it is when you stop running and finally face your fears, and see that they're not so scary after all. In a way, I feel a bit sorry for you, because you'll never know friendship and you'll never know what it's like to be willing to die. Because you'll always just be a scared old man."

He sucked in a breath, he was angry with her, but he wanted to see if she would break anytime soon. "This Akito boy, he said that you would know exactly who he was if I told you, and he said that you were the one tearing his family from him. You were the one weighing them down and making them more and more sad. He wanted to know if you felt guilty for any of that."

"No. Are you going to kill me or what?"

"No, he told me to torture you, make you pay for the sadness you've given him, not that I really care, it just gives me a reason to kill you slowly." He knelt down beside her and looked up at her face, "I took a while, planning out what I wanted to do with you. I wanted to gut you like a pig, while you were still alive. And I wanted to tear apart your limbs. I also wanted to strangle you and feel your soul leave your body. But first, I'm going to cut up your feet so you can't run away. And your hands so you can't fight back."

"I'm tied up. I can't fight back or run away anyway."

He gritted his teeth and jabbed the knife into her foot furiously. Chiyo gasped in pain, and he smiled, happy to feel the rush of adrenaline that came with every kill. He pulled out the knife and went to stab it into her other foot, but they both heard a crash outside the door. He stood up, enraged, and stomped to the door. It flew open before he grabbed the handle and two boys rushed in.

They beat the man up, threw him across the room into his tools, making him bleed more and more with every blow. Yuki untied Chiyo once the villain was unconscious.

"Can you walk?" He asked her. Chiyo shook her head and motioned towards the blood on her foot. Kyo didn't take another second and picked her up.

"Okay, let's get Takeo and get out of here." Kyo said, determined to get out soon. Chiyo squeezed her eyes shut and let the boys take her out of the building. They had taken out most of the lackeys throughout the building on their way to get her, so only a couple man came after them as they made their way out, Takeo and Yuki took care of them easily.

They finally made it out of the doors and back outside. Chiyo breathed in the cool air and reminded herself that she made it out alive. They ran almost ten blocks away from the building before they stopped. Kyo put Chiyo on a bench so the boys could take a break and breathe again. Takeo pulled off his shirt, though it was quite chilly out and handed it to Chiyo.

"Here. Wrap you're foot up with that, then don't ever make me do that again." Takeo huffed.

"I didn't make you do anything." Chiyo said, then wrapped the material around her bleeding foot and tied it up.

"I'm still wondering why that man didn't just attack her and kill her in her apartment at night." Yuki puzzled.

"I don't care, I'm just glad he didn't." Takeo told him.

"He said Akito Soma was going to pay him to torture me. He was the man that killed my parents. I have no idea how Akito found him." Chiyo said.

"Akito? I should have known that! Shigure told me Akito was not happy with Chiyo being here. Akito must have helped him hire all those men, too."

"That's the guy that killed your parents?" Takeo asked, furiously, "I'm gonna go kill that idiot!" Takeo snarled and began to walk towards the building again.

"Yeah! And I'm gonna go kill Akito!" Kyo yelled.

"Hey! Wait! Get back here! No one is killing any one tonight!" Chiyo shouted at them. They stomped back to her and Yuki.

"Can we go kill them tomorrow?" Kyo asked.

"No. Now get me back to Shigure's! Takeo, aren't you worried about the twins? You're not usually away from them this long out of school."

"Fine. Let's go." Takeo grumbled, he picked Chiyo up on his back so she could rest as they made their way back home.


End file.
